Portal:Illinois/Selected article/1
The Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered railroad train formed of railroad cars permanently articulated together with Jacobs bogies, built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington. The train featured extensive use of stainless steel, was originally named the Zephyr, and was meant as a promotional tool to advertise passenger rail service in the United States. The construction included innovations such as shotwelding (a specialized type of spot welding) to join the stainless steel, and articulation to reduce its weight.
On May 26, 1934 it set a speed record for travel between Denver, Colorado, and Chicago, Illinois, when it made a 1,015-mile (1,633 km) non-stop "Dawn-to-Dusk" dash in 13 hours 5 minutes at an average speed of 77 mph (124 km/h). For one section of the run it reached a speed of 112.5 mph (181 km/h), just short of the then US land speed record of 115 mph (185 km/h). The historic dash inspired two films and the train's nickname, "Silver Streak". (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/2
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago in 1988. While the group has gone through several lineup changes, The Smashing Pumpkins consisted of Billy Corgan (vocals/guitar), James Iha (guitar/vocals), D'arcy Wretzky (bass/vocals), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums/percussion) for most of the band's recording career.
The Smashing Pumpkins broke into the musical mainstream with their second album, 1993's Siamese Dream. The group built their audience with extensive touring and their follow-up, 1995's double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. With approximately 18.3 million albums sold in the United States alone as of 2006, The Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s. However, internal fighting, drug use, and diminishing sales hampered the band and led to a 2000 break-up. In April 2006, the band officially announced that they were reuniting and recording a new album. Returning members Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin were joined by new additions Jeff Schroeder (guitar) and Ginger Reyes (bass) in 2007 to tour behind their new release, Zeitgeist. (Read more...)
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Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend to college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records, before signing with Sire Records and expanding to a five-piece. Shortly after the release of the band's major label debut album Anodyne, Farrar announced his decision to leave the band due to a soured relationship with his co-songwriter Tweedy. Uncle Tupelo split on May 1, 1994, after completing a farewell tour. Following the breakup, Farrar formed Son Volt, while the remaining members continued as Wilco.
Although Uncle Tupelo broke up before it achieved commercial success, the band is renowned for its impact on the alternative country music scene. The group's first album, No Depression, became a byword for the genre and influenced artists such as Whiskeytown. Uncle Tupelo's sound was unlike popular country music of the time, drawing inspiration from styles as diverse as the hardcore punk of The Minutemen and the country instrumentation and harmony of the Carter Family and Hank Williams. Farrar and Tweedy lyrics frequently referenced Middle America and the working class of Belleville. (Read more...)
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The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township, that have been annexed by the city. Regions of the city, referred to as sides, are divided by the Chicago River and its branches. The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the Chicago River, but it now excludes the Loop. The South Side has a varied ethnic composition, and it has great disparity in income and other demographic measures. The South Side covers 60% of the city's land area, with a higher ratio of single-family homes and larger sections zoned for industry than the rest of the city.
Although it has endured a reputation as being poor and crime-infested, the reality is more varied, and it ranges from impoverished to working class to affluent. Neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, Little Village and Pullman tend to be composed of more blue collar residents, while the Jackson Park Highlands District, Hyde Park, Mount Greenwood, Morgan Park, Kenwood, and Beverly tend to have middle, upper class, and affluent residents.
The South Side boasts a broad array of cultural and social offerings, such as professional sports teams, landmark buildings, nationally renowned museums, elite educational institutions, world class medical institutions, and major parts of the city's elaborate parks system. The South Side is serviced by bus and train via the Chicago Transit Authority and a number of Metra lines. In addition, it has several Interstate highways and United States highways to serve vehicular traffic. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/5
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
The Bears have won nine Professional American Football league championships (eight NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX), trailing only the Green Bay Packers, who have twelve. The Bears have the most enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with 26 members.
The club was founded in Decatur, Illinois, in 1919 and moved to Chicago in 1921. The team played home games at Wrigley Field on Chicago's North Side through the 1970 season. With the exception of the 2002 season, they have played their home games at Chicago's Soldier Field every year since 1971. The stadium is located next to Lake Michigan and was recently remodeled in a modernization that has attempted to bring stadium amenities expected by today's fans to a historic Chicago building. The team has a fierce, longstanding rivalry with the Packers, whom they have played in over 170 games. (Read more...)
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The Chicago Board of Trade Building houses the Chicago Board of Trade, the world's largest futures and options exchange. It is located at 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, in the Chicago Loop community area. First designated a Chicago Landmark on May 4, 1977, the building was subsequently listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. The building was then added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 16, 1978. The tallest building in Chicago for over 35 years the structure is known for its art-deco architecture, sculptures and large scale stone carving, as well as large trading floors. A popular sightseeing attraction and motion picture location, the building has won awards for preservation efforts and office management.
The Chicago Board of Trade occupies 33 percent of available space, with financial and trading concerns occupying 54 percent of the 3-building complex. The landmark has been the site of a number of visits by dignitaries, including the Prince of Wales in October 1977. Trading operations have been used as scenes in movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the streetscape in the LaSalle Street canyon is used in the movies The Untouchables and Road to Perdition. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/7
Interstate 355 is an interstate highway and tollway in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Like other tollways in the northeastern portion of the state, I-355 is maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (abbreviated ISTHA, but commonly referred to as the "tollway authority"). I-355 runs from Interstate 80 in New Lenox north to Interstate 290 in Itasca, The highway is six lanes wide for its entire length.
The tollway authority opened I-355 as the North–South Tollway in 1989 to ease congestion on Illinois Route 53 (IL 53), a parallel two-lane state highway in central DuPage County. Initially, I-355 ran from I-55 north to I-290. The new highway helped cut travel times for commuters traveling north and south in the county. According to commercial real estate developers at the time, the new tollway also opened the western suburbs of Chicago to commercial and industrial development.
On November 11, 2007, the tollway authority opened a southern extension of I-355 from I-55 to I-80, a distance of 12.5 miles (20.1 km); on its opening, the tollway authority changed the name of the tollway to "Veterans Memorial Tollway". The tollway authority laid the route of the new extension through Will County and a small portion of Cook County, one of the fastest-growing regions in Illinois. The tollway authority expects the extension to cut travel times in the region by 20 percent. (Read more...)
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Prairie Avenue is a north–south thoroughfare on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th street in the Near South Side community area to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail for horseback riders and carriages. During the last three decades of the 19th century, a six-block section of the street served as the residence of many of Chicago’s elite families and an additional four-block section was also known for grand homes. The upper six-block section includes the historic Prairie Avenue District.
Several of Chicago's most important historical figures have lived on the street. This is especially true of the period of recovery from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 when many of the most important families in the city moved to the street. Residents of the street have influenced the evolution of the city and have played prominent national and international roles. They have influenced the political history, architecture, culture, economy, and the law and government of Chicago. The street has changed over time reflecting the demographics of Chicago.
The importance of the street has declined, but it still has landmark buildings and is the backbone of an historic district. Recently, developments have extended the street north to accommodate new high-rise condominiums along Roosevelt Road (12th street). The redevelopment has extended the street so that it has prominent buildings bordering Grant Park with Prairie Avenue addresses. (Read more...)
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Wilco is an American rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar departure from the band. Wilco's lineup has changed frequently, with only singer Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt remaining from the original incarnation. The other current members are guitarist Nels Cline, multi-instrumentalists Pat Sansone and Mikael Jorgensen, and drummer Glenn Kotche. Wilco has released six studio albums, a live double album, and three collaborations: two with Billy Bragg, and one with The Minus 5.
Wilco garnered media attention for its fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), and the controversy surrounding it. After the recording sessions were complete, Reprise Records rejected the album and dismissed Wilco from the label. As part of a buy-out deal, Reprise gave Wilco the rights to the album for free. After streaming Foxtrot on its website, Wilco sold the album to Nonesuch Records in 2002. Both record labels are subsidiaries of Warner Music Group, leading one critic to say that the album showed "how screwed up the music business [was] in the early twenty-first century." The album was the most successful of Wilco's career, selling over 590,000 copies. Wilco won two Grammy Awards for their fifth studio album, 2004's A Ghost Is Born, including Best Alternative Music Album. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/10
The 1880 Republican National Convention convened from June 2 to June 8, 1880 at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and nominated James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur as the official candidates of the Republican Party for President and Vice President of the United States, respectively, in the 1880 presidential election.
Of the 14 people nominated for the Republican nomination, the three strongest candidates leading up to the convention were Ulysses S. Grant, James G. Blaine and John Sherman. Grant had served two terms as President from 1869 to 1877, and was seeking an unprecedented third term in office. He was backed by the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party, which supported political machines and patronage. Blaine was a senator and former representative from Maine who was backed by the Half-Breed faction of the Republican Party. Sherman, the brother of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, was the then Secretary of the Treasury under President Rutherford B. Hayes. He was also a former senator from Ohio and was backed by a delegation that did not support the Stalwarts or Half-Breeds. Garfield's Ohio delegation chose Chester A. Arthur, a Stalwart, as Garfield's vice-presidential running mate. Arthur won the nomination by capturing 468 votes, and the longest-ever Republican National Convention was subsequently adjourned. The Garfield-Arthur Republican ticket later defeated Democrats Winfield Scott Hancock and William Hayden English in the close 1880 presidential election. (Read more...)
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Fountain of Time is a sculpture by Lorado Taft, measuring 126 feet 10 inches (38.66 m) in length, situated at the western edge of the Midway Plaisance within Washington Park in Chicago. This location is in the Washington Park community area on Chicago's South Side. Inspired by Henry Austin Dobson's poem, "Paradox of Time", and with its 100 figures passing before Father Time, the work was created as a monument to the first 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain, resulting from the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. Although the fountain's water began running in 1920, the sculpture was not dedicated to the city until 1922. The sculpture is a contributing structure to the Washington Park United States Registered Historic District, which is a National Register of Historic Places listing.
Time has undergone several restorations, due to the deterioration and decline caused by natural and urban elements. During the late 1990s and the first few years of the 21st century it underwent repairs that corrected many of the problems caused by these earlier restorations. Although extensive renovation of the sculpture was completed as recently as 2005, the supporters of Time continue to seek resources for additional lighting, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation has nominated it for further funding. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/12
The BP Pedestrian Bridge is a girder footbridge in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. It spans Columbus Drive to connect Daley Bicentennial Plaza with Millennium Park, both parts of the larger Grant Park. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry, it opened along with the rest of Millennium Park on July 16, 2004. Gehry had been courted by the city to design the bridge and the neighboring Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and eventually agreed to do so after the Pritzker family funded the Pavilion.
The pedestrian bridge serves as a noise barrier for traffic sounds from Columbus Drive. It is a connecting link between Millennium Park and destinations to the east, such as the nearby lakefront, other parts of Grant Park and a parking garage. BP Bridge uses a concealed box girder design with a concrete base, and its deck is covered by hardwood floor boards. It is designed without handrails, using stainless steel parapets instead. The total length is 935 feet (285 m), with a five percent slope on its inclined surfaces that makes it barrier free and accessible to all. Although the bridge closes in winter because ice cannot be safely removed from its wooden walkway, it has received favorable reviews for its design and aesthetics. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/13
USS Illinois (BB-65) was to be the fifth Iowa-class battleship constructed for the United States Navy and was the fourth ship to be named in honor of the 21st US state.
Hull BB-65 was originally to be the first ship of the Montana-class battleships, but changes during World War II resulted in her being reordered as an Iowa-class battleship. Adherence to the Iowa-class layout rather than the Montana-class layout allowed BB-65 to gain eight knots in speed, carry more 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, and transit the locks of the Panama Canal; however, the move away from the Montana-class layout left BB-65 with a reduction in the heavier armaments and without the additional armor that were to have been added to BB-65 during her time on the drawing board as USS Montana.
Like her sister ship Kentucky, Illinois was still under construction at the end of World War II. Her construction was canceled in August 1945, but her hull remained until 1958 when it was broken up. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/14
The 1968 Illinois earthquake was the largest recorded earthquake in the "Prairie State", measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale. Although there were no fatalities, the earthquake caused considerable structural damage to buildings, including the toppling of chimneys. The earthquake was one of the most widely felt in U.S. history, affecting 23 states over an area of 580,000 square miles (1,500,000 km2). In studying its cause, scientists discovered the Cottage Grove Fault in the Southern Illinois Basin.
Within the region, millions felt the rupture. Reactions to the earthquake varied: some people near the epicenter did not react to the shaking, while others panicked. A future earthquake in the region is extremely likely; seismologists and geologists estimate a 90% chance of a magnitude 6–7 tremor before 2055, likely originating in the Wabash Valley seismic zone on the Illinois–Indiana border, or the New Madrid fault zone. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/15
The Avery Coonley School is an independent, coeducational day school serving academically gifted students in preschool through eighth grade (approximately ages 3 to 14), and is located in Downers Grove. The school was founded in 1906 to promote the progressive educational theories developed by John Dewey and other turn-of-the-20th-century philosophers, and was a nationally recognized model for progressive education well into the 1940s. From 1943 to 1965, Avery Coonley was part of the National College of Education (now National-Louis University), serving as a living laboratory for teacher training and educational research. In the 1960s, ACS became a regional research center and a leadership hub for independent schools, and began to focus on the education of the gifted.
The school has occupied several structures in its history, including a small cottage on the Coonley Estate in Riverside, Illinois, and another building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It moved to Downers Grove in 1916 and became the Avery Coonley School in 1929, with a new 10.45-acre (4.23 ha) campus designed in the Prairie and Arts and Crafts styles, landscaped by Jens Jensen, who was known as "dean of the world's landscape architects". The campus has been expanded several times since the 1980s to create more space for arts, technology, and classrooms. Avery Coonley was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, citing the "long-lasting influence on schools throughout the country" of the educational program and the design of the building and grounds. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/16
Illinois is a 2005 concept album by American indie folk songwriter Sufjan Stevens. His fifth studio album, Illinois features songs referencing places, events, and persons related to the U.S. state of Illinois. The album is Stevens' second based on a U.S. state—part of a planned series of fifty that began with the 2003 album Michigan and that Stevens has since acknowledged was a gag.
Stevens recorded the album using low-fidelity methods and a variety of instruments between late 2004 and early 2005 at multiple venues in New York City, where he also produced the album. The artwork and lyrics explore the history, culture, art, and geography of the state—Stevens developed them after analyzing criminal, literary, and historical documents. Following a July 4, 2005, release date, Stevens promoted Illinois with a world tour. (Read more...)
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The Elgin, Illinois, Centennial half dollar was a fifty-cent commemorative coin issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936, part of the wave of commemoratives authorized by Congress and struck that year. Intended to commemorate the centennial of the founding of Elgin, the piece was designed by local sculptor Trygve Rovelstad. The obverse depicts an idealized head of a pioneer man. The reverse shows a grouping of pioneers, and is based upon a sculptural group that Rovelstad hoped to build as a memorial to those who settled Illinois, but which was not erected in his lifetime.
Rovelstad had heard of other efforts to gain authorization for commemorative coins, which were sold by the Mint to a designated group at face value and then retailed to the public at a premium. In 1935, through his congressman, he had legislation introduced into the House of Representatives for a commemorative coin in honor of Elgin's centennial that year. Rovelstad hoped that the proposed coin would both depict and be a source of funds for his memorial to the pioneers. Unlike many commemorative coins of that era, the piece was not bought up by dealers and speculators, but was sold directly to collectors at the issue price. Art historian Cornelius Vermeule considered the Elgin coin among the most outstanding American commemoratives. (Read more...)
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The Banditti of the Prairie, also known as "The Prairie Bandits," "Pirates of the Prairie," "Prairie Pirates," or simply "The Banditti," in the U.S. state of Illinois, were a group of loose-knit outlaw gangs during the early-mid-19th century. Though bands of roving criminals were common in many parts of Illinois, the counties of Lee, DeKalb, Ogle, and Winnebago were especially affected by them. In the year 1841, the escalating pattern of burglary, horse and cattle theft, stagecoach and highway robbery, counterfeiting, and murder associated with the Banditti came to a head in Ogle County. As the crimes continued, local citizens formed bands of vigilantes known as Regulators. The clash between the Banditti and the Regulators in Ogle County resulted in a lynching in Oregon, Illinois and decreased Banditti activity within the county.
Banditti and Regulator activity continued well after the lynching of 1841. Crimes continued, committed by both sides, across northern and central Illinois. The Banditti were involved in the 1845 torture-murder of merchant Colonel George Davenport, the namesake of Davenport, Iowa. Edward Bonney, an amateur detective who hunted down and brought the killers to justice, wrote of his exploits and alibi, which were recounted in his book, Banditti of the Prairies, or the Murderer's Doom!!: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley, published in Chicago in 1850. The outlaw gangs also continued to be active in Lee and Winnebago counties following the events in Oregon.(Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/19
Harrisburg is the county seat of Saline County, Illinois, United States. It is located about 57 miles (92 km) southwest of Evansville, Indiana, 111 miles (179 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. The 2010 population was 9,017, and the surrounding Harrisburg Township had a population of 10,790, including the city residents. Harrisburg is included in the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area and is the principal city in the Harrisburg Micropolitan Statistical Area with a combined population of 24,913.
Located at the concurrency of U.S. Route 45, Illinois Route 13, Illinois Route 145, and Illinois Route 34, Harrisburg is known as the "Gateway to the Shawnee National Forest", and was made infamous for the Ohio River flood of 1937, the old Crenshaw House (also known as the Old Slave House), the Tuttle Bottoms Monster, prohibition-era gangster Charlie Birger, and the 2012 EF4 tornado. A Cairo and Vincennes Railroad boomtown, the city was one of the leading bituminous coal mining distribution hubs of the American Midwest between 1900 and 1937. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/20
The Battle of Stillman's Run, also known as the Battle of Sycamore Creek or the Battle of Old Man's Creek, occurred on May 14, 1832. The battle was named for Major Isaiah Stillman and his detachment of 275 Illinois militia which fled in a panic from the smaller number of Sauk warriors. The engagement was the first battle of the Black Hawk War (1832) which had developed when Black Hawk crossed the Mississippi River from Iowa into Illinois with his British Band of Sauk and Fox. The militia pursued a group of Sauk scouts back to the main British Band camp following a failed attempt at truce negotiations by Black Hawk's emissaries.
During the engagement 12 militia men were killed while making a stand on a small hill. The remainder of the militia fled back to Dixon's Ferry. A 2006 article corroborates that militia volunteer Abraham Lincoln was present at the battleground's burials; although there is little else agreement amongst other sources. This claim, however, was still under investigation as of 2003[update]. In 1901 a monument was erected in Stillman Valley, Illinois commemorating the battle.(Read more...)
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Carya illinoinensis, commonly called the pecan, is a species of hickory native to Mexico and the south central and southeastern United States. The pecan tree is a large deciduous tree, growing to 20–40 m (66–131 ft) in height. A pecan, like the fruit of all other members of the hickory genus, is not truly a nut, but is technically a drupe, a fruit with a single stone or pit surrounded by a husk. The seeds of the pecan are edible with a rich, buttery flavor.
Before European settlement, pecans were widely consumed and traded by Native Americans. They can provide two to five times more calories per unit weight than wild game and require no preparation. As a wild forage, the fruit of the previous growing season is commonly still edible when found on the ground. Thomas Jefferson planted Carya illinoinensis, known as "Illinois nuts", in his nut orchard at Monticello in Virginia. George Washington reported in his journal that Jefferson had given him "Illinois nuts", which he then grew at Mount Vernon. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/22
The SS Christopher Columbus was an American excursion liner on the Great Lakes, in service between 1893 and 1933. She was the only whaleback ship ever built for passenger service. The ship was designed by Alexander McDougall, the developer and promoter of the whaleback design. Columbus was built between 1892 and 1893 at Superior, Wisconsin, by the American Steel Barge Company. Initially, she ferried passengers to and from the World's Columbian Exposition. Later, she provided general transportation and excursion services to various ports around the lakes.
At 362 feet (110 m), the ship was the longest whaleback ever built, and reportedly also the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched. Columbus is said to have carried more passengers during her career than any other vessel on the Great Lakes. After a career lasting four decades, she was retired during the Great Depression and scrapped in 1936 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. (Read more...)
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/23
The Mormon Trail is the 1,300 mile (2,092 km) route that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868. Today the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails System, as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. The Mormon Trail extends from Nauvoo, Illinois, which was the principal settlement of the Latter Day Saints from 1839 to 1846, to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was settled by Brigham Young and his followers beginning in 1847. From Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Fort Bridger in Wyoming, the trail follows much the same route as the Oregon Trail and the California Trail.
The Mormon pioneer run began in 1846 when, Young and his followers were driven from Nauvoo, leaving to establish a new home for the church in the Great Basin. During the first few years, the emigrants were mostly former occupants of Nauvoo who were following Young to Utah. Later, the emigrants increasingly comprised converts from the British Isles and Europe. The trail was used for more than 20 years, until the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. (Read more...)
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The Civil War Memorial in Sycamore, Illinois, is located in front of the DeKalb County Courthouse on a public square. The memorial was erected in 1896 and dedicated in 1897. The structure is a memorial to the thousands of DeKalb County residents who served in the American Civil War. It incorporates an obelisk which rises to 50 feet (15.2 m) in height. The base is adorned with copper sculpture, completed by an unknown sculptor. On the east facade of the memorial the word "Antietam", denoting the Battle of Antietam, is misspelled. This work of public art underwent its first restoration work in 2005-2006.
The memorial is included among the 187 buildings and structures considered contributing properties to the Sycamore Historic District. The historic district was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The structure also has artistic significance as it is listed by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in their research database. It is one of the few sculptures in DeKalb County found within that database. The Civil War Memorial is owned by DeKalb County. (Read more...)
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Shimer College was an American Great Books college in Illinois. Founded as the Mt. Carroll Seminary in Mount Carroll, Illinois in 1853, it was renamed Shimer College in 1950, when it began offering a four-year curriculum based on the Hutchins Plan of the University of Chicago. Although the University of Chicago parted with Shimer (and the Hutchins' Plan) in 1958, Shimer continued to utilize a version of that curriculum. The college left Mount Carroll for Waukegan in 1978, moving to Chicago in 2006. In 2017, Shimer was incorporated into North Central College as the Shimer School of Great Books in Naperville.
The academic program of the college, and of the Great Books School today, is based on a core curriculum of sixteen required courses in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. All courses are small seminars with no more than twelve students and are based on original sources from a list of about 200 core texts broadly based on the Great Books canon. Classroom instruction is Socratic discussion. Shimer was governed internally by an assembly in which all community members had a vote.
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The Haymarket affair was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at Chicago police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; scores of others were wounded.
In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. The death sentences of two of the defendants were commuted by Illinois governor Richard J. Oglesby to terms of life in prison, and another committed suicide in jail. The other four were hanged on November 11, 1887. In 1893, Illinois' new governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants and criticized the trial.
The Haymarket affair is generally considered significant as the origin of international May Day observances for workers. The site of the incident was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1992, and a public sculpture was dedicated there in 2004. In addition, the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument at the defendants' burial site in nearby Forest Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
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Mr. Dooley is a fictional bartender created by Chicago journalist Finley Peter Dunne, appearing in print between 1893 and 1915, and again in 1924 and 1926. The bartender's humorous but pointed commentary on American politics and international affairs first became popular during the 1898 Spanish–American War. Dunne's essays are in the form of conversations in an Irish dialect of English between Mr. Dooley, the owner of a fictional tavern in the Bridgeport area of Chicago, and one of the bar's patrons. From 1898 onwards, the essays, and the books collecting them, gained national acclaim. Dunne became a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt, although the friendship did not curtail his satire. Beginning around 1905, Dunne had increasing trouble finding time and inspiration for new pieces, and, except for a brief resurrection in the mid-1920s, his columns ended in 1915. Even before his death in 1936, his work was becoming obscure due in part to his use of dialect and unusual spellings. The columns originated lasting sayings such as "the Supreme Court follows the election returns".
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/28
Americium is a radioactive transuranic chemical element with symbol Am and atomic number 95. This member of the actinide series is located in the periodic table under the lanthanide element europium, and thus by analogy was named after the Americas.
Americium was first produced in 1944 by the group of Glenn T. Seaborg from Berkeley, California, at the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago, a part of the Manhattan Project. The discovery was kept secret and only released to the public in November 1945. Most americium is produced by uranium or plutonium being bombarded with neutrons in nuclear reactors – one tonne of spent nuclear fuel contains about 100 grams of americium. It is widely used in commercial ionization chamber smoke detectors, as well as in neutron sources and industrial gauges. Several unusual applications, such as nuclear batteries or fuel for space ships with nuclear propulsion, have been proposed for the isotope 242mAm, but they are as yet hindered by the scarcity and high price of this nuclear isomer.
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The 2015 Rochelle–Fairdale tornado was an extremely violent and long-lived tornado that tore through the communities near Rochelle and in Fairdale, Illinois throughout the evening hours of April 9, 2015. Part of a larger severe weather event that impacted the Central United States, the tornado first touched down in Lee County at 6:39 p.m. CDT (22:39 UTC). It progressed through the counties of Ogle, DeKalb, and Boone before finally dissipating at 7:20 p.m. CDT. Along the tornado's 30.14 mi (48.51 km) path, numerous structures were heavily damaged or destroyed, especially in the small town of Fairdale where two fatalities and eleven injuries were recorded. A few well-constructed homes were swept completely away, indicative of peak winds near 200 mph (320 km/h), the upper bounds of an EF4 tornado. In the aftermath of the event, hundreds of citizens assisted in cleanup and recovery efforts. Economic losses from the tornado reached $19 million (2015 USD).
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/30
The Benjaminville Friends Meeting House and Burial Ground is a Friends Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), located north of the rural village of Holder in McLean County, Illinois. It was once the site of a now-defunct village called Benjaminville, founded in 1856 after Quakers settled the area. More Quakers followed, and the burial ground, then the current meeting house in 1874, were constructed. This site, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places since 1983, is all that remains of that village.
The burial ground preceded the meeting house, as the site was home to another meeting house that was constructed in 1859. The Benjaminville Meeting House represents a well-constructed example of Quaker meeting house architecture and contains within its design many of the major elements associated with the style. It is unique in that it allowed both male and female friends to worship together in the same room. The burial ground, however, maintains a strict separation, not by gender but by religious affiliation; there are three sections, one for Quakers, one for non-Quakers, and one for distant relatives of both.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/31
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes, and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller, a high-school slacker who spends a day off from school, with Mia Sara and Alan Ruck. Ferris regularly "breaks the fourth wall" to explain techniques and inner thoughts.
Hughes wrote the screenplay in less than a week. Filming began in September 1985 and finished in November. Featuring many landmarks, including the then Sears Tower and the Art Institute of Chicago, the film was Hughes' love letter to Chicago: "I really wanted to capture as much of Chicago as I could. Not just in the architecture and landscape, but the spirit."
Released by Paramount Pictures on June 11, 1986, the film became one of the top-grossing films of the year, receiving $70.1 million over a $5.8 million budget, and was enthusiastically acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2016, Paramount, Turner Classic Movies, and Fathom Events re-released the film for its 30th anniversary.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/32
Silver Springs State Fish and Wildlife Area is an Illinois state park on 1,350 acres (550 ha) in Kendall County, Illinois, United States. The park was established in the late 1960s and is named for the natural spring within its boundaries. The park has two artificial lakes and the Fox River flows through the northern end of the park. Silver Springs hosts a variety of activities including fishing, hunting, boating and hiking. The park has areas of native prairie restoration, a sledding hill and a seven-mile (11 km) equestrian trail. The prairie restoration areas hold many species of plants, including lead plant and purple coneflower.
The spring is located along a trail on the south end of the park. The spring's name is derived from the effect of sunlight on its surface, which makes the pool appear to shimmer like silver. Even through the winter, the bubbling spring never freezes, and plants often poke through snow surrounding the watercress-bordered pool in the coldest months.
Besides its prairie restorations and bodies of water, Silver Springs has areas of deciduous forests and wetlands, both of which are populated with species of mammals, birds and insects. Bird life observed in the park includes: osprey, great horned owl, eastern screech owl and long-eared owl; bald eagle have been sighted further upstream along the Fox. Reptiles and amphibians are present in the park but are more elusive than other types of animal life.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/33
The Cubs Win Flag is a victory flag that is flown at Wrigley Field after every Chicago Cubs home win. The flag is variously referred to by approximately a dozen names, combining: either Cubs or Chicago Cubs; Win, W, White, White W, or W Win; and flag, banner or banner flag. Other common names for the symbol include Chicago Cubs W Win Flag and Chicago Cubs Win Banner Flag. It has become an important symbol for fans, and days when the win flag is flown are known as "White Flag Days". The tradition of flying a win or loss flag over the stadium began soon after the construction of the scoreboard in 1937.
The symbolism of the flag now serves a wide variety of purposes. It is commonly reproduced in 3-by-5-foot (0.91 by 1.52 m) dimensions, The flag has become a celebratory symbol for Chicago Cubs fans who purchase reproductions and take them to games at home and on the road to show support. The fans wave them after victories at Wrigley Field, and they hang them in the stands during playoff series. Some fans fly a win flag in place of or in addition to the Flag of the United States on days when the Cubs win.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/34
The Joseph F. Glidden House is located in the United States in the city of DeKalb, Illinois. It was the home to the famed inventor of barbed wire, Joseph Glidden. The barn, still located on the property near several commercial buildings, is said to be where Glidden perfected his improved version of barbed wire which would eventually transform him into a successful entrepreneur. The Glidden House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The home was designed by another barbed wire patent holder in DeKalb, Jacob Haish.
The property contains the house and two outbuildings; the barn and the remains of an old windmill foundation. Constructed in 1861, the Glidden House adheres mostly to a French Colonial style of architecture. The raised basement and full-length porch are two of the architectural elements found on the Glidden House that are consistently found in French Colonial homes. The barn, a building of high historical significance, was not included as part of the National Register listing for the property until 2002, nearly 30 years after the original nomination was approved.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/35
Cumberland is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system. It is situated on the Blue Line between Rosemont and Harlem. The station is located in the median of the Kennedy Expressway at Cumberland Avenue in the O'Hare neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side, and it is close to both the Norwood Park neighborhood and the city of Park Ridge. The area surrounding the station consists of mixed commercial and residential development.
The Cumberland station was first proposed in 1972 as part of an extension of the Blue Line from Logan Square to O'Hare International Airport. The station opened on February 27, 1983, along with Harlem and Rosemont. The three new stations brought 6,000 new riders to the northwest CTA line in the following month, and Cumberland became especially attractive to suburban commuters. The station at Cumberland consists of a single island platform; a pedestrian overpass connects the platform to a station building to the south and an exit stairway to the north. The station also includes a bus terminal, a park and ride lot, and a public art sculpture, Rock Bow by Charles Ross; the sculpture consists of a 40 feet (12 m) high metal-cased prism set in a limestone base. Trains serve Cumberland 24 hours a day every day; the headway between trains is 10 minutes during peak periods, with less frequent service at other times. In addition to trains, Cumberland also serves CTA buses, Pace buses, Burlington Trailways buses, and Greyhound buses.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/36
The University of Illinois Astronomical Observatory, located on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was built in 1896 and was designed by Charles A. Gunn. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 6, 1986, and on December 20, 1989, was designated a National Historic Landmark.
The observatory played a key role in the development of astronomy as it was home to a key innovation in the area of astronomical photometry. The facility has been directed by such noted scientists as Joel Stebbins and Robert Horace Baker. Erected at the behest of the Illinois General Assembly, the University of Illinois Observatory became important in the development of astronomy due, in large part, to pioneering research by Dr. Stebbins, from 1907 to 1922. Joel Stebbins left the University of Illinois in 1922 but left behind a legacy of discovery that helped alter the face of modern astronomy. The building served the University of Illinois astronomy department from its opening until 1979, when the department moved into a new, larger building to house its growing staff. Though none of the astronomical instruments are being used for professional research today, the observatory still contains a 12" Brashear refractor that is used as a teaching tool in the university's astronomy classes.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/37
The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a bird in the genus Cardinalis. It can be found in southern eastern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Minnesota to Texas, and south through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Big Island of Hawai’i. Its habitat includes woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and wetlands. The cardinal is a mid-sized songbird with a body length of 21–23 cm (8.3–9.1 in). It has a distinctive crest on the head and a mask on the face which is black in the male and gray in the female. The male is a vibrant red, while the female is a reddish olive color. The northern cardinal is mainly granivorous, but also feeds on insects and fruit. The male behaves territorially, marking out his territory with song. During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak. A clutch of three to four eggs is laid, and two to four clutches are produced each year.
The cardinal is the state bird of seven U.S. states, more than any other species: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/38
Abraham Lincoln's patent was an invention to buoy and lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a river. Abraham Lincoln conceived the invention when on two occasions the boat on which he traveled got hung up on obstructions. Lincoln's device was composed of large bellows attached to the sides of a boat that were expandable due to air chambers. Filed on March 10, 1849, Lincoln's patent was issued as Patent No. 6,469 later that year, on May 22. His successful patent application led to his drafting and delivering two lectures on the subject of patents while he was president.
Lincoln was at times a patent attorney and was familiar with the patent application process as well as patent lawsuit proceedings. Among his notable patent law experiences as a result of his patent was litigation over the mechanical reaper; both he and his future Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, provided counsel for John Henry Manny, an inventor. The original documentation of Lincoln's patent was rediscovered in 1997.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/39
The 28th International Eucharistic Congress was held in Chicago from June 20–24, 1926. The event, held by the Catholic Church, was a eucharistic congress, which is a large-scale gathering of Catholics that focuses on the Eucharist and other items of Catholic faith. The event was organized by Cardinal George Mundelein, the Archbishop of Chicago, and was the first International Eucharistic Congress held in the United States and the second in North America. The event attracted a large number of people to the city, with most sources claiming at least several hundred thousand attendees. Large events were held throughout the area, at locations including Soldier Field, Holy Name Cathedral, and the Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary. Some sources claim that approximately 1 million people attended the closing day mass held at the seminary in nearby Mundelein.
The congress is considered a major event in the history of Chicago, with some historians comparing the size of the event to the city's world's fairs. It is also regarded as an important occurrence in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States, as it demonstrated the size and power of the church in the historically Protestant United States.
Portal:Illinois/Selected article/40 The Encyclopedia of Chicago is a historical reference work covering the Chicago metropolitan area published by the University of Chicago Press. Released in October 2004, the work is the result of a ten-year collaboration between the Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society. It exists in both a hardcover print edition and an online format, known as the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. The print edition is 1117 pages and includes 1400 entries, 2000 biographical sketches, 250 significant business enterprise descriptions, and hundreds of maps.
The concept was fueled by other regional encyclopedias that had met with commercial success in 1980s and 1990s. Eventually, the vision to create the book found initial financing from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The book was well received and became a bestseller during the 2004 Christmas season following its October 2004 release. The following May the Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago was released. Northwestern University joined the collaboration between the Newberry Library and the Chicago Historical Society to publish the internet edition. The internet edition was the second of its kind for a U.S. city.